Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

ELEGANT EXTRACT S.

BOOK THE THIRD.

69261

ORATIONS, CHARACTERS, AND LETTERS.

[ocr errors][merged small]

M

ANY of those who have spoken

before me on occafions of this kind, have commended the author of that law which we are now obeying, for having inftituted an oration to the honour of those who facrifice their lives in fighting for their country. For my part, I think it fufficient for men who have approved their virtue in action, by action to be honoured for it by fuch as you fee the public gratitude now perfo ming about this funeral; and that the virtues of many ought not to be endangered by the management of any one perfon, when their credit muft precarioufly depend on his oration, which may be good, and may be lad. Difficult indeed it is, judicioufly to handle a fubject, where even prot able truth will hardly gain affent, The hearer, enlightened by a long acquaintance, and warm in his affections, may quickly pronounce every thing unfavourably expreffed, in refpect to what he wishes and what he knows; whilft the ftranger pronounceth all exaggerated, through envy of thofe deeds which he is confcious are above his own atchievement. For the praises beftowed on others are then only to be endured, when men imagine they can do thofe feats they hear to have been done; they envy what they cannot equal, and immediately pronounce it

falfe. Yet, as this folemnity has received its fanction from the authority of our ancestors, it is my duty alfo to obey the law, and to endeavour to procure, fo far as I am able, the goodwill and approbation of all my audience.

I fhall therefore begin firft with our forefathers, fince both justice and decency require we should, on this occafion, bestow on them an honourable remembrance. In this our country they kept themfelves always firmly fettled; and, through their valour, handed it down free to every fince-fucceeding generation.-Worthy, indeed, of praife are they, and yet more worthy are our immediate fathers; fince, enlarging their own inheritance into the extenfive empire which we now poffefs, they bequeathed that their work of toil to us their fons. Yet even thefe fucceffes, we ourselves, here prefent, we who are yet in the ftrength and vigour of our days, have nobly improved, and have made fuch provifions for this our Athens, that now it is all-fufficient in itfelf to anfwer every exigence of war and of peace. I mean not here to recite thofe martial exploits by which thefe ends were accomplished, or the refolute defences we ourselves and our forefathers have made against the formidable invafions of Barbarians and Greeks. Your own knowledge of thefe will excufe the long detail. But, by what methods we have rofe to this height of glory and power; by what polity, and by what conduct we are Kk 3

thus

thus aggrandized, I fhall first endeavour to fhew; and then proceed to the praise of the deceafed. Thefe, in my opinion, can be no impertinent topics on this occafion; the difcuffion of them must be beneficial to this numerous company of Athenians and of itrangers.

We are happy in a form of government which cannot envy the laws of our neighbours; for it hath ferved as a model to others, but is original at Athens. And this our form, as committed not to the few, but to the whole body of the people, is called a democracy. How different foever in a private capacity, we all enjoy the fame general equality our laws are fitted to preferve; and fuperior honours, juft as we excel. The public adminiftration is not confined to à particular family, but is attainable only by merit. Poverty is not an hindrance, fince whoever is able to ferve his country meets with no obftacle to preferment from his firft obfcurity. The offices of the ftate we go through without obftructions from one another; and live together in the mutual endearments of private life without fufpicions; not angry with a neighbour for following the bent of his own humour, nor putting on that countenance of difcontent, which pains, though it cannot punish; fo that in private life we converfe together without diffidence or damage, whilft we dare not, on any account, offend against the public, through the reverence we bear to the magiftrates and the laws, chiefly to thofe enacted for redrefs of the injured, and to thofe unwritten, a breach of which is allowed difgrace. Our laws have further provided for the mind moft frequent intermiffions of care, by the appointment of public recreations and facrifices through out the year, elegantly performed with a peculiat pomp, the daily delight of which is a charm that puts melancholy to flight. The grandeur of this our Athens caufeth the produce of the whole earth to be imported here, by which we reap a familiar enjoyment, not more of the delicacies of our own growth, than of those of other na

tions.

[ocr errors]

In the affairs of war we excel thofe of our enemies who adhere to methods

oppofite to our own for we lay open Athens to general refort, nor ever drive any ftranger from us, whom either improvement or curiofity hath brought amongst us, left any enemy should hurt us by feeing what is never concealed: we place not fo great a confidence in the preparatives and artifices of war as in the native warmth of our fouls impelling us to action. In point of education, the youth of fome people are inured, by a courfe of laborious exercife, to fupport toil and hardship like men; but we, notwithstanding our eafy and elegant way of life, face all the dangers of war as intrepidly as they. This may be proved by facts, fince the Lacedæmonians never invade our territories, barely with their own, but with the united frength of all their confederates. But, when we invade the dominions of our neighbours, for the most part we conquer without difficulty, in an enemy's country, thofe who fight in defence of their own habitations. The ftrength of our whole force, no enemy hath yet ever experienced, becaufe it is divided by our naval expeditions, or engaged in the different quarters of our fervice by land. But if anywhere they engage and defeat a fmal! party of our forces, they boatingly give it out a total defeat; and, if they are beat, they were certainly overpowered by our united ftrength. What though from a state of inactivity, rather than laborious exercife, or with a natural, rather than an acquired valour, we learn to encounter danger; this good at least we receive from it, that we never droop under the apprehenfion of poffible misfortunes, and when we hazard the danger, are found no lefs courageous than thofe who are continually inured to it. In these refpects, our whole community deferves justly to be admired, and in many we have yet to mention.

In our manner of living we fhew an elegance tempered with frugality, and we cultivate philofophy, without enervating the mind. We difplay our wealth in the feafon of beneficence, and not in the vanity of difcourfe. A confeflion of poverty is difgrace to no man; no effort to avoid it, is difgrace indeed. There is visibly, in the fame perfons, an

attention

attention to their own private concerns, and those of the public; and in others, engaged in the labours of life, there is a competent fkill in the affairs of government. For we are the only people who think him that does not meddle in ftate affairs—not indolent, but good for nothing. And yet we pass the foundest judgment, and are quick at catching the right apprehenfions of things, not thinking that words are prejudicial to actions; but rather the not being duly prepared by previous debate, before we are obliged to proceed to execution. Herein confifts our diftinguishing excellence, that in the hour of action we fhew the greatest courage, and yet debate before-hand the expediency of our measures. The courage of others is the refult of ignorance; deliberation makes them cowards. And thofe undoubtedly must be owned to have the greateft fouls, who, moft acutely fenfible of the miseries of war and the fweets of peace, are not hence in the leaft deterred from facing danger.

In acts of beneficence, farther, we differ from the many. We preferve friends, not by receiving, but by conferring obligations. For he who does a kindnefs, hath the advantage over him who, by the law of gratitude, becomes a debtor to his benefactor. The perfon obliged is compelled to act the more infipid part, confcious that a return of kindness is merely a payment, and not an obligation. And we alone are fplendidly beneficent to others, not fo much from interested motives, as for the credit of pure liberality. I thall fum up what yet remains, by only adding, that our Athens, in general, is the fchool of Greece: and that every fingle Athenian among us is excellently formed, by his perfonal qualifications, for all the various scenes of active life, acting with a most graceful demeanor, and a molt ready habit of dispatch.

That I have not, on this occafion, made ufe of a pomp of words, but the truth of facts, that height to which, by fuch a conduct, this ftate hath rofe, is an undeniable proof. For we are now the only people of the world who are found by experience to be greater than in report; the only people who, repel

ling the attacks of an invading enemy, exempts their defeat from the blush of indignation, and to their tributaries no. difcontent, as if fubject to men unworthy to command. That we deserve our power, we need no evidence to manifeft; we have great and fignal proofs of this, which entitle us to the admiration of the prefent and of future ages. We want no Homer to be the herald of our praife; no poet to deck off a history with the charms of verfe, where the opinion of exploits muft fuffer by a ftrict relation. Every fea hath been opened by our fleets, and every land been penetrated by our armies, which have every where left behind them eternal monuments of our enmity and our friendship.

And

In the just defence of such a state, these victims of their own valour, scorning the ruin threatened to it, have valiantly fought, and bravely died. And every one of those who furvive is ready, I am perfuaded, to facrifice life in fuch a caufe. And for this reafon have [ enlarged fo much on national points, to give the cleareft proof, that in the prefent war we have more at stake than men whofe public advantages are not fo valuable; and to illuftrate by actual evidence, how great a commendation is due to them who are now my fubjects, and the greatest part of which they have already received. For the encomiums with which I have celebrated the ftate, have been earned for it by the bravery of thefe, and of men like thefe. fuch compliments might be thought too high and exaggerated, if paffed on any Grecians, but them alone. The fatal period to which thefe gallant fouls are now reduced, is the fureft evidence of their merit-an evidence begun in their lives, and completed in their deaths: for it is a debt of juftice to pay fuperior honours to men, who have devoted their lives in fighting for their country, though inferior to others in every virtue but that of valour. Their last service effaceth all former demerits-it extends to the public; their private demeanors reached only to a few. Yet not one of thefe was at all induced to shrink from danger through fondness of those delights which the peaceful affluent life Kk 4

bestows:

bestows; not one was the lefs lavish of his life, through that flattering hope attendant upon want, that poverty at length might be exchanged for affluence. One paffion there was in their minds much stronger than thefe, the defire of vengeance on their enemies. Regarding this as the most honourable prize of dangers, they boldly rushed towards the mark, to feek revenge, and then to fatisfy thofe fecondary paffions. The uncertain event they had already fecured in hope; what their eyes fhewed plainly must be done, they trufted their own valour to accomplish, thinking it more glorious to defend themfelves, and die in the attempt, than to yield and live. From the reproach of cowardice, indeed, they fled, but prefented their bodies to the fhock of battle; when, infenfible of fear, but triumphing in hope, in the doubtful charge they inftantly dropt; and thus difcharged the duty which brave men owe to their country.

[ocr errors]

As for you, who now furvive them, it is your bufinefs to pray for a better fate but to think it your duty alfo to preferve the fame fpirit and warmth of courage against your enemies; not judging the expediency of this from a mere harangue where any man, indulging a flow of words, may tell you, what you yourfelves know as well as he, how many advantages there are in fighting valiantly against your enemies but rather making the daily increafing grandeur of this community the object of your thoughts, and growing quite enamoured of it. And, when it really appears great to your apprehenfions, think again, that this grandeur was acquired by brave and valiant men; by men who knew their duty, and in the moments of action were fenfible of fhame; who, whenever their attempts were unfuccessful, thought it dishonour their country fhould ftand in need of any thing their valour could do for it, and fo made it the most glorious prefent. Beitowing thus their lives on the public, they have every one received a praife that will never decay, a fepulchre that will be moft illuftrious. Not that in which their bones lie mouldering, but that in which their fame is preferved, to be on every occafion, when honour

is the employ of either word or act, eternally remembered. This whole earth. is the fepulchre of illuftrious men; nor is it the infcription on the columns in their native foil alone that fhews their merit, but the memorial of them, better than all infcriptions, in every foreign. nation, repofited more durably in univerfal remembrance than on their own tomb. From this very moment, emulating thefe noble patterns, placing your happiness in liberty, and liberty in valour, be prepared to encounter all the dangers of war. For, to be lavish of life is not so noble in those whom misfortunes have reduced to mifery and defpair, as in men who hazard the lofs of a comfortable subsistence, and the enjoyment of all the bleffings this world affords, by an unfuccefsful enterprize. Adverfity, after a series of eafe and affluence, finks deeper into the heart of a man of fpirit, than the ftroke of death infenfibly received in the vigour of life and public hope.

For this reafon, the parents of those who are now gone, whoever of them may be attending here, I do not bewail;-I fhall rather comfort. It is well known to what unhappy accidents they were liable from the moment of their birth; and that happiness belongs to men who have reached the moft glorious period of life, as these now have who are to you the fource of forrow; thofe, whofe life hath received its ample meafure, happy in its continuance, and equally happy in its conclufion, I know it in truth a difficult task, to fix comfort in those breafts which will have frequent remembrances, in feeing the happinefs of others, of what they once themfelves enjoyed. And forrow flows not from the abfence of thofe good things we have never yet experienced, but from the lofs of thofe to which we have been accuftomed. They, who are not yet by age exempted from iffue, fhould be comforted in the hope of having more. The children yet to be born will be a private benefit to fome, in caufing them to forget fuch as no longer are, and will be a double benefit to their country, in preventing its defolation, and providing for its fecurity. For those perfons cannot in common

« ZurückWeiter »